College Readiness Summer Academy, co-director

In collaboration with my colleague Dr. Miriam Witmer from the Department of Educational Foundations, we offered the first College Readiness Summer Academy at Millersville University August 1-4, 2016.  The Academy was an extension of the Color of Teaching Mentoring Program and the Side by Side Program research project that Dr. Witmer and I facilitated last fall in School District of Lancaster high schools.

The goal of the Academy was to give students a chance to experience college, to learn about characteristics of successful college students by attending “college” classes with current college students, and to consider teaching as a future career choice.

We were able to offer this 4-day, 3-night residential camp free to all participants by securing up to $15,000 in funding from GEAR-Up 3, and $625 from the MU College of Education and Human Services, and $625 from the MU Office of Student Affairs & Enrollment Management to support our initiative. All costs including meals, lodging, and linen service were covered by the grant funding.  A funding commitment of $9396 was secured to offer the program again in 2017, but the program was not offered in 2017.

The Summer Academy supported various diversity initiatives across campus.  While the student population in America is more diverse than ever and continues to grow more diverse, the teacher population remains racially segregated.  To prepare future generations from underrepresented groups for careers in education, the Academy was developed to complement our highly successful Side-by-Side Program supported by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and Millersville University.

The Academy agenda included real classroom experiences with college professors, assigned readings, evening learning activities,  MU ropes course, field trip to the Whitaker Center for Arts and Sciences in Harrisburg, step dance instruction, and a movie/discussion of Race–the biographical sports drama movie about African-American athlete Jesse Owens who won a record-breaking four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics.  Millersville University students trained and served as Academy mentors for the high school students who resided overnight in the dormitory.